Uprooting of vines, distillation of surplus wine and now mildew, the cup is full for Bordeaux winegrowers. Sometimes, anger overflows in the face of the scale of the crisis experienced by this prestigious vineyard, when the harvest is about to begin.
Even if it is still premature to assess the extent of the losses, many properties are affected, particularly in Entre-deux-Mers. And the Merlot grape variety, the majority in this region, is very affected.
“In June, there was an alternation of heavy rains and high temperatures, an ideal breeding ground for the development of mildew”, says Régis Falxa, president of the Independent Winegrowers of Gironde, who manages, with his sister, Château Lalande-Labatut and Château Les Gauthiers at the gates of Entre-deux-Mers. When the fungus attacks the vines, the leaves become covered with spots and wither, the bunches dry out.
Compensation procedure
“With our environmental certification, it is impossible to use certain mildew treatment products. It’s like going to war with a ball gun”, he explains. However, he is careful not to give harvest forecasts. And for good reason. The manual harvest of its plots of Cabernet Sauvignon, a grape variety intended to produce a Crémant de Bordeaux, will only begin on September 5. The rest of the collection, in particular of the Merlots, will extend until the end of the month.
Without waiting, the winegrowers sounded the alarm, in July, to initiate a compensation procedure for damage caused by mildew. Especially since the law which sets the new rules of the crop insurance game and distributes the risk between farmers, insurers and the State came into force on 1er January.
The insurers responded by dismissing the request. According to them, the climate multi-risk contract does not cover crop loss linked to mildew, but only damage caused by excess water and not by disease. The ball is in the state’s court.
“The vines are in agony”
This new setback for Bordeaux comes as the wine region is going through a crisis of overproduction. With the sharp drop in exports to China and the fall in sales in supermarkets, Bordeaux wine can no longer sell and prices are collapsing.
Faced with delicate financial situations, many operators have asked for aid to uproot vines and to distil the overflow. In July, 1,085 files were submitted for a total uprooting of more than 9,000 hectares of vines. Operations could begin in October after the harvest.
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